The invention relates to a charged particle system, such as a multi beam lithography system, comprising a manipulator device for manipulation of one or more charged particle beams.
Charged particle systems, such as (multi) electron beam systems, are being developed for high throughput maskless lithography systems, (multi) electron beam microscopy and (multi) electron beam induced deposition devices. In particular for maskless lithography systems, individual beam modulation or manipulation is needed during the writing of a pattern on a substrate.
Those lithography systems comprise either continuous sources or sources operating at constant frequency or at a varying frequency. Pattern data can be sent towards a manipulator device (or modulation means), which may be able to completely or partly stop the emitted beams from reaching the target exposure surface when necessary. The manipulator device (or modulation means) can also be provided for changing other characteristics of the emitted beam, such as a position, a cross-section, an intensity, a direction and/or an opening angle of the beam.
Preferably, the maskless lithography system comprises one source which can emit a diverging beam of charged particles, which charged particle beam is directed to an aperture array. The aperture array splits the charged particle beam into a plurality of charged particle beams or beamlets. This method of producing a plurality of charged particles has the advantage that it yields a large number of closely spaced beams or beamlets.
However, any manipulator device for such closely spaced plurality of charged particle beamlets requires closely spaced arrays of manipulators. Such closely spaced arrays are difficult to produce. In particular electrical circuits for controlling many manipulators are difficult to arrange in the lithography system. In addition, cross-talk between manipulators and other circuits in the vicinity of the manipulators can cause errors in the manipulation of the beams.
Furthermore, it can be difficult to produce a manipulator device that is able to manipulate the charged particle beam with sufficient accuracy. The manipulation by a manipulation device can depends on the exact location of the projection of the beam on the manipulation device. Any misalignment of the charged particle beam will then result in large manipulation errors.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a solution, at least in part, for at least one of the above identified problems.